Veteran teacher worries over school woes
by B. C. LeDoux, Outpost staff
Patricia
Sorensen
Patricia Sorensen has been an elementary school
teacher in the Truckee Meadows for the better part of 39
years.
OCCUPATION: School teacher, Mamie Towles
Elementary School
RENO RESIDENT SINCE: 1939
She will retire in a few years knowing she loved what she did and made a difference, but not knowing if she would start over as a teacher in this day and age.
"I don't know (if I would be a teacher)," she said. "I really would question that."
But this apprehension does not mean that Sorensen does not like teaching. In fact, over the years, when confronted with opportunities to change her profession, Sorensen could not think of anything she would rather do than teaching.
"I love to teach," she said. "I am interested in learning, and I love it when the kids learn. I really love children."
Sorensen's apprehension revolves around the changes in society she has witnessed over the years. She said changing attitudes in society have both put more responsibility on teachers and made it harder to be a good teacher.
"When I used to teach kindergarten, I would let kids sit on my lap and we would give them a hug, but you really just don't do that anymore," she said. "I still do it, but I always kind of worry about it, because I'm afraid it might be misinterpreted."
"It's harder to show affection towards kids when you feel they need it sometimes."
She is concerned about the school violence, which has been increasing. She also said she thinks family values, on the whole, have been deteriorating. Children often come to class tired and without homework because both their parents work and the kids are constantly being shipped from one place to another in the afternoons and evenings.
She worries that parents do not have enough time to spend with their children, and that parent involvement, overall, is diminishing.
"I have wonderful parents who come and help in the classroom and I hope it continues, but I have seen less and less of it," she said.
Having had wonderful students and parents in her teaching career, she loves teaching. However, Sorensen worries about the future of the classroom.
"I worry about the kids and I worry about the teachers and I really worry about where it is going," she said. "I hope it doesn't get worse, but it probably will."
|
Grocery store managers |
|
|
|
Retailers |
|
|
|
Teachers |
|
|
|
Ranchers |
|
|
|
Journalists |
|
|
|
Parents |
|
|
|
Bookstore owners |
|
|
|
Students |
|
|
|
|
||
Posted Dec. 16,
1999
Copyright 1999, Nevada Outpost
TOP